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50 Book Challenge 2021 Part Eight

783 replies

southeastdweller · 22/11/2021 23:21

Welcome to the eighth (and probably final) thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2021, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it’s not too late to and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.The lurkers among you are also very welcome to come out of the woodwork and share with us what you've read!

The first thread of the year is here, the second one here, the third one here, the fourth one here, the fifth one here, the sixth one here and the seventh one here.

How have you got on this year?

OP posts:
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24
TimeforaGandT · 23/11/2021 07:41

And thanks for the new thread southeast

TimeforaGandT · 23/11/2021 07:40

Bringing across my list:

1. A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
2. Just One Damned Thing After Another - Jodi Taylor

  1. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
  2. Banker - Dick Francis
  3. Old Baggage - Lissa Evans
6. Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans
  1. The Guest List - Lucy Foley
8. Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
  1. A Symphony of Echoes - Jodi Taylor
10. A Second Chance - Jodi Taylor 11. The Spy and the Traitor - Ben MacIntyre 12. The Danger - Dick Francis 13. A Song for Summer - Eva Ibbotson 14. Alternative Li(v)es - Arnie Arnstein 15. The Offing - Benjamin Myers 16. A Trail Through Time - Jodi Taylor 17. No Time Like The Past - Jodi Taylor 18. Confusion - Elizabeth Jane Howard 19. Thirteen - Steve Cavanagh 20. Proof - Dick Francis 21. The Warden - Anthony Trollope 22. A Month in the Country - JL Carr 23. My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell 24. What Could Possibly Go Wrong - Jodi Taylor 25. American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins 26. Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers 27. Three Act Tragedy - Agatha Christie 28. Break In - Dick Francis 29. Bolt - Dick Francis 30. Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin 31. Regeneration - Pat Barker 32. The Eye in the Door - Pat Barker 33. The Ghost Road - Pat Barker 34. Lies, Damned Lies and History - Jodi Taylor 35. Acts and Omissions - Catherine Fox 36. The Girl with the Louding Voice - Abi Dare 37. The Defence - Steve Cavanagh 38. Hot Money - Dick Francis 39. The Plea - Steve Cavanagh 40. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 41. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford 42. A Rose Petal Summer - Katie Fforde 43. Unseen Things Above - Catherine Fox 44. Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart 45. Realms of Glory - Catherine Fox 46. The Unknown Ajax - Georgette Heyer 47. To Calais in Ordinary Time - James Meek 48. Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel 49. And the Rest is History - Jodi Taylor 50. An Argumentation of Historians - Jodi Taylor 51. Quartet in Autumn - Barbara Pym 52. Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie 53. Hungry - Grace Dent 54. The Widow - Fiona Barton 55. Casting Off - Elizabeth Jane Howard 56. V for Victory - Lissa Evans 57. The Edge - Dick Francis 58. Straight - Dick Francis 59. The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel 60. Box 88 - Charles Cummings 61. Longshot - Dick Francis 62. The Party - Elizabeth Day 63. Maurice - E M Forster 64. Driving Force - Dick Francis 65. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid 66. Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam 67. A Year at the Circus - Jon Sopel 68. Hope for the Best - Jodi Taylor 69. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett 70. Jews Don’t Count - David Baddiel 71. Munich - Robert Harris 72. Tales from Lindford - Catherine Fox 73. The Liar - Steve Cavanagh 74. Virgin Earth - Philippa Gregory 75. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 76. Decider - Dick Francis 77. In the House of Brede - Rumer Godden 78. Arabella - Georgette Heyer

And adding my latest read:

79. The Only Plane in the Sky - Garrett M Graff

Much reviewed on here already. The oral history of 9/11. Harrowing and fascinating.

Onto something lighter next…..

SOLINVICTUS · 23/11/2021 07:32

Thanks South. Brew
I also have a massive pile of Christmas cookbooks by my bed so am going to be lucky to reach 50 but am romping through easy and fairly predictable detective fic in an effort to do so.

My List:

  1. Christmas Chronicles Nigel Slater
  2. Merry Midwinter
  3. Twas the Nightshift before Christmas - Adam Kaye
  4. Bridget Jones' Diary
  5. Rupture Ragnar Jonasson
  6. Murder Mile Lynda La Plante
  7. Bone China Laura Purcell
  8. No-one is too small to make a difference Greta T
  9. Whiteout Ken Follett
10. The Sealwoman's Gift Sally Magnusson 11. A Mind to Murder PD James 12. Middle England Jonathan Coe 13. Hidden Depths- Ann Cleeves 14. Home- Bill Bryson 15. Diana In Her Own Words-Andrew Morton 16. Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett 17. Nothing Stays Buried- PJ Tracy 18, Shroud for a Nightingale- PD James 19. Findings Kathleen Jamie 20. The Familiars- Stacey Hall 21. One by One- Ruth Ware 22. Spain for the Sovereigns- Jean Plaidy 23.The Holiday T.M Logan 24. The Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen 25. Past Caring Robert Goddard 26. Finders Keepers, Belinda Bauer 27. A Long Petal of the Sea- Isabel Allende 28. Telling Tales- Ann Cleeves 29. Pies and Prejudice Stuart Maconie 30. The Unseen Roy Jacobsen 31. The Road to Little Dribbling- Bill Bryson 32. Conclave Robert Harris 33. The Plot 34. The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald 35. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 36. The Girl Who Played with Fire 37. The Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest 38. Cider With Roadies- Stuart Maconie 39. The Loving Spirit- Daphne Du Maurier 40. The Only Plane In the Sky 41. The Darkness- Ragnar Jonasson 42 Last Rituals- Yrsa Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 43. A Child's Christmas in 80s Wales 44. A Child's Christmas in Wales- Dylan Thomas 45. Raven Black- Ann Cleeves.
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 23/11/2021 07:04

Thanks South.

No list and all I’ve been reading lately is cookery books and the Guardian, so nothing to report.

ChessieFL · 23/11/2021 06:51

Thanks for new thread. I’m not doing a list but latest read:

The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart

All about why women are taken less seriously than men in professional life. Definitely worth a read if you were a fan of Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez a couple of years ago. The chapter on how gender and race combine to make it extra difficult was interesting, as was the chapter interviewing transgender people who could give the perspective of being treated differently depending on their gender.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 23/11/2021 00:14

Thank you southeast Thanks

1.	Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
2.	Behind The Scenes At The Museum by Kate Atkinson
3.	Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse by David Mitchell
4.	The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
5.	Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
6.	Dishonesty Is The Second Best Policy by David Mitchell
7.	Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry
8.	Aquarium by David Vann
9.	The Enchantment Of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt
10.	<strong>La’s Orchestra Saves The World</strong> by Alexander McCall Smith
11.	Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
12.	Tangerine by Christine Mangan
13.	<strong>Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plain</strong> by Barney Norris
14.	The Inheritors by William Golding
15.	Around The World In Eighty Days by Jules Verne
16.	<strong>The Bone Clocks</strong> by David Mitchell
17.	<strong>Falling Angels</strong> by Tracy Chevalier 
18.	A History Of Britain Vol 1 : 3000 BC-1605 AD by Simon Schama
19.	<strong>Arthur and George</strong> by Julian Barnes
20.	Dinner With Edward by Isabel Vincent
21.	<strong>The Woman In White</strong> by Wilkie Collins
22.	Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy
23.	A History Of Britain Vol. 2 : 1603-1776 The British Wars by Simon Schama
24.	A History Of Britain Vol. 3 1776-2000 by Simon Schama
25.	Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli 
26.	<strong>The Sandman</strong> by Neil Gaiman 
27.	How Much Of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang 
28.	A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking
29.	Columbine by Dave Cullen
30.	A Demon Haunted Land by Monica Black
31.	<strong>The Art Of War</strong> by Sun Tzu
32.	Wiccan Book Of Candle Spells by Lisa Chamberlain
33.	Very Practical Magic by Nicola Kelleher
34.	<strong>Luna</strong> by Tamara Driessen
35.	The Hiding Game by Naomi Wood 
36.	Everyday Magic by Samra Haksever
37.	Love Spells by Samra Haksever
38.	Mama Moon’s Book Of Magic by Samra Haksever
39.	Natural Magic by Doreen Valiente
40.	Irish Witchcraft by Lora O’Brien
41.	<strong>The Crystal Code</strong> by Tamara Driessen
42.	Everyday Tarot Magic by Dorothy Morrison
43.	<strong>The Only Plane In The Sky</strong> by Garrett M Graff
44.	Candide by Voltaire
45.	Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
46.	Ulysses by James Joyce
47.	Ayoade on Ayoade by Richard Ayoade
48.	The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
49.	<strong>Dracula</strong> by Bram Stoker
50.	You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here by Frances Macken
51.	The Trial by Franz Kafka
52.	<strong>On The Road</strong> by Jack Kerouac
53.	Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
54.	Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig 
55.	The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle
56.	Metroland by Julian Barnes
57.	The Doll : Short Stories by Daphne Du Maurier
58.	The Curious Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
59.	Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks
60.	Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier
61.	Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
62.	The Cockroach by Ian McEwan
63.	<strong>Georgiana, Duchess Of Devonshire</strong> by Amanda Foreman
64.	The Power Of Hope by Kate Garraway
65.	The Power And The Glory by Graham Greene
66.	An Unsuitable Job For A Woman by PD James
67.	What’s Left Of Me Is Yours by Stephanie Scott
68.	Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
69.	Nutshell by Ian McEwan
70.	Latitudes Of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup
71.	Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
72.	Chanel’s Riviera by Anne de Courcy 
73.	The Noise Of Time by Julian Barnes
74.	<strong>Malibu Rising</strong> by Taylor Jenkins Reid
75.	<strong>The Return Of The Native</strong> by Thomas Hardy
76.	The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
77.	Yes Please by Amy Poehler
78.	Everybody Died, So I Got A Dog by Emily Dean
79.	She Said by Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey
80.	A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire
81.	On The Frontline With The Women Who Fight Back by Stacey Dooley
82.	Dead Famous by Greg Jenner
83.	The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
84.	Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
85.	The Outsider by Albert Camus
86.	<strong>One. Two. Three. Four. : The Beatles In Time</strong> by Craig Brown
87.	The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
88.	Travellers In The Third Reich by Julia Boyd
89.	My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
90.	Girl by Edna O’Brien
91.	<strong>Les Miserables</strong> by Victor Hugo
92.	Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown
93.	Nothing To Envy by Barbara Demick
94.	A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles
95.	The Mercies by Kiran Milwood Hargrave
96.	The Corner Shop by Babita Sharma
97.	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
98.	<strong>Bad Blood</strong> by John Carreyou
99.	Traces by Patricia Wiltshire
100.	The Sandman : Act II by Neil Gaiman
101.	It’s All In Your Head by Suzanne O’Sullivan 
102.	<strong>This Much Is True</strong> by Miriam Margolyes
103.	<strong>Americanah</strong> by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
104.	Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
105.	Living The Dream by Isabelle Dupuy
106.	The Prime Ministers by Iain Dale
107.	Don’t Laugh, It’ll Only Encourage Her by Daisy May Cooper
108.	No Honour by Awais Khan
109.	Love And Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward
110.	The Margot Affair by Sanae Lemoine
111.	<strong>Team Of Rivals</strong> by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Currently Reading : Maid by Stephanie Land and I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter

LadybirdDaphne · 22/11/2021 23:58

Thanks for the new thread southeast! Here's my list:

  1. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13&3/4 - Sue Townsend
  2. Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain - Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
  3. The Dinosaurs Rediscovered - Michael J. Benton
  4. Written in Bone - Sue Black
  5. Life on Earth - David Attenborough
  6. How to Talk to Anyone - Leil Lowndes
  7. The Terror - Dan Simmons
  8. Earthlings - Sayaka Murata
  9. Night School - Richard Wiseman
10. A Life on Our Planet - David Attenborough 11. Piranesi - Susanna Clarke 12. The Artists’s Way - Julia Cameron 13. Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell 14. Find Your Voice - Caroline Goyder 15. Nation - Terry Pratchett 16. You Let Me In - Camilla Bruce 17. Why You?: 101 Interview Questions You’ll Never Fear Again - James Reed 18. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens 19. Laura Lake and the Luxury Press Trip - Wendy Holden 20. Wild and Free - Wendy Holden 21. Defining You - Fiona Murden 22. Brilliant Customer Service - Debra Stevens 23. Celebrating the Southern Seasons - Juliet Batten 24. The Luck Factor - Richard Wiseman 25. Writing Historical Fiction - Celia Brayfield & Duncan Sprott 26. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo 27. The Celestial Hunter - Roberto Calasso 28. Three Women - Lisa Taddeo 29. How to Work Without Losing Your Mind - Cate Sevilla 30. Fierce Bad Rabbits - Clare Pollard 31. Fuck You Very Much - Danny Wallace 32. How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House - Cherie Jones 33. Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to Happiness 34. This Must Be The Place - Maggie O’Farrell 35. The French Lieutenant’s Woman - John Fowles 36. Metazoa: animal minds and the birth of consciousness- Peter Godfrey-Smith 37. Brideshead Revisited- Evelyn Waugh 38. The Invention of Medicine: from Homer to Hippocrates - Robin Lane Fox 39. Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert 40. Rip It Up - Richard Wiseman 41. The Absolute Book - Elizabeth Knox 42. Irreversible Damage - Abigail Shrier 43. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill - Sophie Hannah 44. Jews Don’t Count - David Baddiel 45. The Knife’s Edge - Stephen Westaby 46. Rosemary’s Baby - Ira Levin 47. Fear-free Children - Janet Hall 48. Help Your Child to Read and Write - Fiona Chandler 49. Fragile Lives - Stephen Westaby 50. Make Your Worrier a Warrior - Dan Peters 51. The Devil You Know - Gwen Adshead 52. The Book of Science and Antiquities - Thomas Keneally

Now reading Erebus by Michael Palin and Spillover by David Quammen (there's a cheery combo) and also getting through the Little Dorrit chapters for this month.

elkiedee · 22/11/2021 23:48

Posting to bookmark on the new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread